here comes the sun

While Gwangan beach is clogged with umbrellas and floaty toys, the rocky Eastern end just has shellfish. There are bikinis in the distance, but the people gathering mussels wear hats, gloves and bandanas.

the boy in the bright blue jeans

There are a lot of advertisements in Korean bath and body stores for men's products. My Korean boyfriend has less chest hair than I do.


(I think he's advertising face cream?)

atomic dog

There are a lot of things in Korea that folks in the States would probably find foreign and interesting, but I just take for granted. Then I act like there's nothing to blog about, but there is.

In Korea, they paint their dogs.


(This one would not turn around to show its pink cheeks!)

You see a lot of fluffy little white dogs with pastel ears or tails. Last summer around Kyungsung University, there was also a big fluffy white dog dyed to look like a panda. I never took a picture.

Also, soup. In America, I took it for granted that I could dig into a bowl of soup with a spoon and eat whatever I retrieved. In Korea, one is expected to take out cow bones, clam shells, or half a crab and dissect it at the table before eating.

This soup was pretty good.

this is a life of illusion

In Thailand, it was fun to watch Korean tourists take pictures of one another on the beach with fancy DSLR cameras. Taking pictures of one another is a huge thing in Korea too (maybe I am in the right country) but here it's cold.

Bexco, a convention center in Busan, accommodates with an interactive art exhibition (inside, where it's warm!) I went with Pete in early January.


I've never felt short in Asia before...






It's very convenient to have a Pete around when a dinosaur bursts through the wall.


(You know he is very seriously singing "Wise men say only fools rush in...")

Ramayana

Prambanan is a Hindu temple near Yogyakarta, built in the 9th century. The temple is illuminated at night, and there is an open-air theater in front of it (from which the temple is visible at night) where the Ramayana ballet is performed almost nightly.

The Ramayana tells the story of Rama. There are pretty costumes. Rama was able to use a fancy bow left by Shiva, and as a reward he got to marry Sita, the fairest of them all.





Then stuff happened. Much of the epic involves Hanuman, who is kind of my favorite on account of MONKEYS! And there were little kids who played some of the monkeys and kept falling over and being cute. None of these pictures came out, so here are some pretty girls:



The ballet picks up with the part called Sundara Kanda, where Hanuman sets fire to Ravana's citadel.



But then it gets a little iffy in Yuddha Kanda, where Rama is unsure of his wife's purity so he sets her on fire. Like ya do. She survived, and they lived happily ever after.



(That is until Rama becomes doubtful of her purity again an banishes her, and then she gets swallowed by the earth. That part isn't in the ballet.)

their bombs and their guns

Unfortunately, the wicked awesome mysterious history of the Plain of Jars is intertwined with the horrifying history of the Secret War in Laos. Other tourist areas have a lot of evidence of the war (one of the ceremonial bells at the Elephant Cave in Vang Vieng is made out of an old bomb shell) but Phonsavan is famous for two things: jars and bombs. There are a couple of UXO information centers in town with more information about the effort to clear mines.

Before entering the Plain of Jars sites, there are signs indicating, basically, to stay on the trails to avoid being blown to smithereens. Good advice.



Many of the jars are damaged by bombs and there are bomb craters labeled alongside the jars. The Lao army used this cave (next to Jars site 1) during the Secret War.





The standard tourist circuit in town also includes a visit to an old Russian tank left rusting in the forest, and the tourist information center itself greets visitors with this:

whisky in the jar?

I came to Phonsavan to see the Plain of Jars, and that's exactly what I did. No one knows who built them or for what reason, but my pet theory is that giants used them to serve a ceremonial cocktail made from Lao-Lao and human blood.

Site 1 is also home to the biggest jar in the world and I had my picture taken with it. Oh, yeah.



Site 1 also has a jar with a lid! The only giant stone jar with a lid in the world.



I like to think that this one is full of cats.

Site 2 is a little smaller and more secluded, and this tree decided that it was perfectly acceptable to carry out lewd acts with stone jars as if no one was looking. For shame!



No witnesses, indeed!



And site 3 could be anywhere in the world.



But is, in fact, in Laos. Just like the other two.

Rubber tommy water gun

Ban Phe celebrated Songkran on Friday. In the morning, the school staff rode in a songthaew down to our base in town. The streets were so crowded with pickup trucks full of people that the songthaew crawled along the road at a speed that let townsfolk board it to throw water on us. We set up shop in front of a hair salon with a giant tank of water and some freshly delivered ice.



Songkran is a fantastic holiday. Pickup trucks full of people rode slowly by and we splashed them and they splashed us. People politely came up to each other and smear colored powder on one anothers faces, so that you alternate between caked-with-paste and rinsed clean.





There was a big wet dance party in the heat in front of Christie's restaurant. People let loose like I've never seen people let loose in Ban Phe! It was fantastic.

When it rains and shines

In Ban Phe, Songkran will be biggest on Friday, but my first attack was on Monday. It's grown since then. There are mobile and stationary groups of children and adults, and both have advantages. Stationary groups are easier to refill, usually have fresh ice and less spillage, and access to hoses. Mobile groups (almost always a barrel of water, a dozen or so people, and scoops and water guns in the back of a pick-up truck) can attack without warning, and from higher up, though they tend to be less efficient at reloading.

As an unarmed pedestrian, I got soaked by both.

Here, a stationary team and a mobile team soak each other. Those folks on the street had giant floating blocks of ice in their buckets.



On Friday, the staff of Siam English Training School will all take part and douse people together.

Risin' up to the challenge of our rival

I'm not generally one for attending sporting events, but Muay Thai is Thailand's national sport which makes it a cultural event. A dirty, sweaty cultural event occuring in a usually vacant field, at night. So Friday after work, that's what I did.

The Muay Thai ring was constructed in a field and the whole area was enclosed within a tarp and bamboo fence. It had rained heavily that morning, and the winged ants were out in full force that evening because of it. Attracted to the three incandescent lights swinging above the ring, they frantically fly about until they lose their wings and fall. The first order of business, then, was to sweep the spent insects out of the way.


(Don't think of these shots as blurry--they're frenzied and energetic.)

Before each match, the fighters stretched and prayed in the ring. The first fight was between children. They looked 9 or 10, so they were probably 13 or 14, in the 30kg class. Muay Thai is vicious to look at, and for the first few fights the action was entirely in the ring. As the night went on, the crowd got more involved (and invested) in the fights and the energy was divided between the crowd and the fighters.

There were a few gimmicks: a Thai-vs.-Falang match (the falang won,) and a short, stocky fellow in red against two taller opponents in blue (red won.)


Red's kind of invisible in between his opponents.


Nobody cheered when the falang won.

There were twelve fights of five rounds each. The whole spectacle went on from about 8:30 to 1:30. As I left the enclosure was already coming down. The Muay Thai stadium turned back into a vacant lot by morning. It was an entertaining night, and I found myself yelling along with the crowd by the end of it.

Chicken in the bread pan pickin' out dough

I finally got my Pad Thai fix this afternoon at the Bedrock restaurant. It was everything Pad Thai should be.

I'm not sure exactly what they offer in front of their spirit houses (besides the Fanta,) but if it's Pad Thai then I completely understand my lunchtime entertainment:



It makes perfect sense that something would eat the food offerings, but the Fanta does more than just evaporate and I'm not sure that chickens have yet developed the ability to use drinking straws. Half a mystery solved, anyway.

Sitting watching picture slides

Since leaving the USA in September, I've kept a list of things I'd never done before. I thought that the beginning of 2010 would be a good time to share some of them.

To start, I hopped on a plane with no one to meet me on the other side. My first few days in Bangkok, I was a basket case. I couldn't sleep, I was lonely and confused. I got over it and kinda fell in love with Thailand.

I drink only bottled water. It is kind of weird to have to go buy water all the time or (now) go downstairs and refill my water bottle from the big drinking water dispenser. Potable tap water is something that's easy to take for granted.

I ate a mangosteen! I had wanted to try one when I first came to Thailand but they weren't in season. It was a chance stop at a fruit stand in Pai to get bananas when I saw the small, brownish-purple fruits. I asked the man what they were and jumped up and down and squealed for longer than necessary before tearing into one with my fingers. I was soon shown how to open them without making a mess (lace your fingers together holding the fruit between your palms and squeeze gently until the shell cracks open.)

I played darts. And won my first game. I played snooker, and lost completely and totally.

I rode on a motorbike, sorta drove a motorbike (ha!) rode sidesaddle on a motorbike, rode with 3 people on a motorbike, burned my leg on a tailpipe. Oh, motorbikes.

I sang with a live band!

I haggled.

I used a squat toilet, often, and occasionally managed not to wee on my feet.



On that note, I managed not to make a little post about squat toilets. This picture is one I encountered on the way to Pai, and it's pretty typical of the more rustic ones. You've got your toilet, your bucket and scoop for flushing, and no toilet paper. Many of these aren't designed to accommodate toilet paper and instead (if one has the forethought to bring some with them) one is supposed to dispose of used toilet paper in a waste bin. There are some stinky stalls in Thailand. Usually there is a muslim shower, fondly known by some as a "butt blaster." This one was not so well-equipped.

Hopefully 2010 will be equally abundant with firsts.

Want a Fanta?

One reason Soi Suan Son may be haunted is that most of the buildings do not have spirit houses. Without a spirit house, spirits are left to roam around causing mischief. Siam School used to have a spirit house, but the owners are Mormon and took it away. Spirit houses must be built by special spirt house artisans, or spirits just won't live there. I'm not sure of the circumstances under which a spirit house would need to be replaced, but it does happen. Old spirit houses can't just be tossed out; they are usually left near a sacred tree.

This is part of a spirit house cemetery near the Tesco Lotus grocery store.





Of course the Tesco has an elaborate, active spirit house with plenty of water and incense and the occasional sandwich for the spirits.

More transient businesses, though, like the stalls at the market, can't very well build spirit houses. Instead they place an offering of red Fanta with a straw in it on the corner of their table. Overwhelmingly, the spirits at restaurants and food stalls prefer red Fanta. Oui, a fellow who works at Christie's, says that they would never leave an offering of Coke, but only red or green Fanta. I'm not sure if it's because the spirits don't like caffeine, or that they like pretty colors. He seemed to think these were silly questions.

But when I do drink red Fanta now, I kind of like to know that it's the beverage of choice for the spirits.

Sweet Home

I live on Soi Suan Son. I try very hard not to say "Swan Song." Both sides of the street are lined with these glorious buildings. Each one begins at the bottom with a garage. Some people use them as garages, at least one is completely full of coconut shells, and some have been converted to restaurants and karaoke bars.



At my school (which is a triple-wide) the bottom floor is lobby, classrooms, kitchen and office. The second floor is classrooms, and the third and fourth are rooms for employees and students.



I live on the fourth floor. Each step is, of course, a slightly (or drastically, depending) different height than the step below it. They're wonderful buildings and most of them are empty. People say that the entire street is haunted, and you'll notice that there are no spirit houses visible on the street. I share my room with a few geckos but haven't encountered any spirits yet.

Ridin' dirty

I didn't suffer a lot of culture shock in Thailand, which is strange because everything is very different here from what I was used to in the States. I think that the odor that offended me so much when I got off the plane was the smell of "mai pen rai," and it quickly absorbed into my skin and made me incredibly laid-back. My American friends would be surprised at how laid back I am here, and my Thailand friends would probably be surprised about the things that bothered me back home. If you come to visit, you'll quickly get used to these things.

There are flies on your food. It's okay, there were probably flies on your food in the kitchen too. All of the restaurants in Ban Phe and most of the ones in other parts of Thailand are open-air, and big juicy flies will land on your food. The food is so delicious, you can't blame them. They won't eat much.

Your feet are disgustingly dirty. I only wear flip-flops nowadays, as I have to take my shoes off where I live and work. The dust and the sand and the pollution take their toll and every morning it takes about 30 minutes for my feet to become disgusting mudballs as the dirt mingles with sweat.

On that note, when you go outside you sweat. You can forget wearing makeup unless you spend your day inside. After just standing outside for a few minutes, drops of sweat start gliding down my forehead and my legs.

There are mangy dogs everywhere. In Bangkok, there's at least one every block. In Ban Phe, there are probably four on each block. Many of them have skin diseases, some have really pathetic disabilities, and some chase you at night. I'm always ready to use my purse as a weapon.

There is no evidence of traffic laws. It's fine to cram four or more people including infants on a motorbike with no helmets. Those lines on the road? I think they're there for decoration. And I've never seen a speed limit sign. People drive on the left side of the road, usually.

People laugh at you. Thai people will have conversations in front of you where you only recognize the word "falang" before they erupt in laughter. Sometimes a Thai person will ask you to repeat what you just said and then laugh at you. Sometimes they'll volunteer to tell you that you're fat or you have big feet, or they'll poke your love handles... and then laugh at you.

None of these things bother me, which is surprising considering how antsy I got about cleanliness and stuff in the States.

And as much as they don't bother me, I don't think you'd like to see a picture of a mangy dog or my dirty feet, so here is the largest garden snail I have ever seen in my life, next to a size 42 (women's 10 US) flip flop.

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej turned 82 last Saturday, December 5th. Ban Phe turned into a huge festival and I got to walk in a parade!

All of the employees of my school turned up in pink polo shirts with the royal insignia. If I had known that this was an option



you can bet that I would have hastily created a sequined vest or something with a little pizazz. Pink polo shirts stretched along the vast length of Ban Phe's main drag as what must have been most of the population of Ban Phe marched 3km or so to the giant stage which had been constructed a few days before in anticipation of the king's birthday.


Watch them disappear into the horizon.

Once we arrived, there was a lengthy ceremony wherein each group who had marched in the parade sent up three representatives to give gifts to the king.


That's Neung, Bert and Ditt!

Then this happened


and there was tasty seafood for all. The festival lasted for six days, and there were concerts and talent shows on the big stage the following nights and a big market to go with the carnival. Ban Phe is finally back to normal now and I don't know how I'll be able to carry on.

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever

I visited a magical island this weekend. Ko Samet is the reason Ban Phe is on the map, but this was my first visit. I was deliriously happy all weekend until the very end, which was still a perfect ending.

On Saturday after being booted out of Condochain and bidding farewell to the folks who won't stay in Ban Phe, I caught the ferry with two girls from my TEFL class. On arriving on the island we found some available bungalows (very rustic accommodation) and went down to the beach for drinks. We met a cute, sarcastic, whiny Canadian who we joined for dinner at a restaurant on the beach a while later. The food was wonderful. The sand was white. The drinks were abundant.

After dinner, we walked to a hookah bar on the beach. Rugs were laid out on the sand, and there were pillows to lean upon and short tables. The four of us shared a hookah and I listened to the music from the bar and watched the fire dancers down the beach and the lanterns floating up to the heavens for good luck and it was beautiful. This island's culture and inhabitants are so intentional and warm and transient, like Ren Faire or Khao San without the touts.


Paisley Glen or beachside hookah bar?

I didn't think it could get better, but inside the club at the hookah bar there was a wonderful cover band. They played the Cranberries and Guns and Roses and... uh... Shawty got Low. It was FANTASTIC. The singers, the guitar, the dancing, the energy, the music.

We left when the band finished their set and it went back to a dj and walked back the other way to a gay bar on the beach. I dipped in the ocean with one of my companions and it was beautiful. Then we headed back to our bungalows, and found that one of them was full of ants, everywhere. We all slept in one big bed then and in the morning realized we had shared the bungalow with this guy:

I am very glad that we didn't see the spider until the morning. Otherwise we would have had to sleep outside. It is by far the largest spider I've seen outside of a tarantula, and it is fast.



In the morning, we met up with another friend and found a secluded beach with white sand and still turquoise water and just played and swam in the ocean, laid on the beach and ate delicious food. I had an ovaltine shake and banana with coconut milk. While resting for awhile I played some music (it's odd that I haven't listened to my ipod at all on this trip until now.) I put it on shuffle and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" came on and it was perfect.

The mermaids here are whiter than the sand.


I was completely enchanted by Ko Samet, but had to leave to catch the ferry at around 5 pm. I came back to the school here in Ban Phe where I am spending one night before leaving tomorrow for Cambodia with a couple of others. After dinner I walked back to the school with a friend and we stopped at a restaurant that was having a lawn karaoke party with two of the TEFL employees, including our trainer. Both of them are leaving in the coming weeks, one to Singapore and one to England. It was wonderful to sing karaoke with them. I sang three songs--Proud Mary was a duet, it was great. I Will Survive was great. The other was Take it to the Limit by the Eagles. But the music was not right. It was just a generic drumbeat and I couldn't sing to it! Especially with a song that is so slow, Emily singing that song was the most horrible thing I have ever heard. It was better to watch them sing karaoke. When I left it was bittersweet because they're both leaving while I'll be in Cambodia and they're pretty cool people who it would have been fun to get to know outside of the TEFL-trainee relationship. They'll have great adventures though.

I realized when I got back to my room here that my phone was missing! It must have fallen out of my purse at the karaoke place. I called the place but there was a language barrier and a loud karaoke happening in the background barrier so I'm not sure they know what's happening, but I will stop by tomorrow in the hope that they have my phone. If losing my phone is payment for the amazing weekend I had, it was worth it. But I still want it back.

First Weekend in Ban Phe

My first week of teacher training is complete.

Saturday I rode on the back of a motorbike around Ban Phe. I actually tried to drive a motorbike, much to the amusement of the hotel housekeepers who were hanging out of the window laughing at me. Jerk forward, screech to a halt, jerk forward, lean sideways, screech to a halt. I'm sure you'll have no difficulty visualizing this. I'm much better as a passenger. I don't think they make motorbikes with training wheels.

In Bangkok and here in Ban Phe there are motorbikes all over the roads but helmets are rare. Some of them pile on three plus people, including children on their laps. I've seen women ride sidesaddle. They don't really have enforced traffic rules so the motorbikes dart in between cars when they can. As a result, at a stoplight there is always a hoarde of motorbikes blazing forward first when the light turns green.


This fella was hanging out in my condiment tray.

Is it sad that it took me until Saturday to get past my knees in the ocean? It was a hot day, and shortly after sundown I took a dip in the warm ocean. I've never been in a warm ocean before, and it was wonderful. I luckily missed the torrential end-of-monsoon thunderstorm, which waited until I was safe and dry in the restaurant/motorbike rental/convenience store/Internet cafe next to the Condochain.

When the rain let up, I walked back to Condochain to the cacophony of the competing karaoke bars on either side of the hotel. I think that the one next to my side of the building has the advantage. Being in a covered pavilion outdoors, the flashing disco lights draw people and moths alike and the music has a much straighter path through the crack where my sliding glass door doesn't slide all the way shut.

Sunday five of us went to Khao Chamao national park. This trip was amazing. I don't know what I was expecting; we knew there were waterfalls and wildlife (elephants and tigers and bears, oh my!)

The first wildlife I saw was this gigantic black and yellow spider:


The hike to the waterfalls required a park ranger as an escort, and they did not let us bring food or water to the hiking trail. It turned out to be a 2.6 kilometer hike each way, but it was very intense. It was an uphill climb through the jungle. The trail went up and through little streams, and required a lot of energy to find the best place to step among the rocks and tree roots. There were about six waterfalls along the trail, and of course they were beautiful but so was just walking through the jungle. The sounds were amazing, the flora was amazing, the sudden drop in temperature as I stepped around a corner and into view of a waterfall was just amazing!



I bought a bag of fish food for 10 baht (33 cents) at the desk where we gave up our water bottles. The first (or second?) waterfall we passed had hoards of fish beaching themselves to get at this food. I tried out my camera's underwater capabilities here, which was a little tricky since I couldn't see the viewfinder.



The hike was grueling, especially without water. Up near the top, we passed an area with a very zoo-ish smell. The guide said it was tiger. We didn't actually meet a tiger. When I emerged from the jungle after four hours (I think?) I was covered in a slimy film of sweat, sunscreen and insect repellant. And leeches. Also leeches.

I pulled this sucker off my ankle:



It was so worth it though!





It started to rain just as we were leaving the jungle, and I had lunch at the park under a little pavilion while the rain turned into a downpour. The largest animal we met at the park was a deer.



One can rent a bungalow and stay the night at the park, which I think would be amazing. After returning to the Condochain I took a dip in the warm ocean and took pictures.



I tried to get a picture with an awesome wave crashing behind me, but it didn't work.